Wednesday, November 02, 2005

We've seen Bush's "a few bad apples" alibi disproved in that the chances of individuals from a whole range of organizations, from regular Army, to SEAL Teams, to OGAs (read CIA), and even private sector paramilitary employing the exact same methods and techniques are simply impossible. This doesn't even take into account the same torture techniques are employed by countries the administration hands off individuals enduring extreme rendition. The methods and techniques in Abu Ghraib are identical to those in Guantanamo Bay, to those in Afghanistan. They are the same in many other places as well, and harken back to the same methods employed in Latin America during Negroponte's reign of terror. The notion that somehow all these individuals from completely different organizations in locations separated by huge expanses somehow employ exactly the same methods of torture by accident--not by policy is preposterous at best. The "bad apples" argument is no argument at all. Scapegoating seriously sick and misguided low ranking enlisted personnel through courts martial, while deserved (these are cases in which military personnel are compelled to disobey orders -- Nuremberg set precedent that orders to commit war crimes are invalid), doesn't address the problem. This administration's policy is torture.

Rumsfeld's even more loathsome statements of U.S. torture is akin to "college pranks" is just as ridiculous as the "bad apples" nonsense. A recent report from autopsies on U.S. held captives show that 21 of the detainees were homicide victims. This chilling news in the reactionary corporate media is only what is publicly known about the brutal, inhuman policies the U.S. ruling class visits upon persons held with no legal justification. The report mentions "detainees were smothered, beaten or exposed to the elements." Bush's torture policies feature the rape and sodomizing of male and female detainees. It features beatings, exposure to extremes, and the most inhuman treatment. Not to mention racist and ethnocentric treatment of other people's religions and ethnic beliefs. The brutality is so bad that hunger strikes and attempted suicides have become the norm for those kept in U.S. concentration camps. Not sure what college Rumsfeld went to, but if the above is what he considers college pranks, I am glad I didn't go to his school.

So much more could be written about their rationalizations and excuses, but it boils down to one thing. There is never, ever, a justification for torture. This is the most barbaric of barbarisms, and even the ultra reactionary U.S. Senate voted 90 to 9 against it. Still Cheney lobbies for torture. This has to stop. It has to stop now. We must demand the reactionary corporate media stop calling torture and murder "abuses" and call it what it is. The amount of evidence proving torture is policy is overwhelming. Soldiers and officers have come out and told the truth about it. The terrible photos and videos that shocked the world are unfortunately the tamest of those in existence and rest need be released. Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice et al need to appear at Hague and tried as the war criminals they are. Although the ruling class often places itself above the law, and although the neocons are the most extreme example of lawless beasts, they shouldn't be allowed to ignore Geneva Conventions. No one should be allowed to systematically commit the most flagrant human rights violations without consequence. None of the reactionary apologist (Malkin and friends call themselves conservatives, too politically ignorant to know what they really are) excuses stand up to John McCain's statement "This isn’t about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies." No person should ever have to endure torture. Bush and his ilk have clearly taken the lead in the 21st century as the monsters we read about in previous century.